Esquire Theatre
463 S. Main Street,
Hobart,
OK
73651
463 S. Main Street,
Hobart,
OK
73651
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 10 comments
The Rialto Theatre opened on November 11, 1925 with Noah Berry in “The Coming Of Amos” and Gunnar Kaasen in “Balto’s Race to Nome”. It was renamed the Kiowa Theatre in September 1933.
After a major remodel, the theater reopened as the Esquire Theatre on July 23, 1954 with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in “Living It Up” along with the Pepe LePew Looney Tune “The Cats Bah” and a newsreel.
Theaters went into decline, then returned to popularity. Unfortunate for small towns who did not have the population and the financial resilience to be returned to use. This theatre will be listed in the photo survey. John Wilson, Ph.D.
The NRHP Registration Form for the Hobart Downtown Historic District says that this house opened around 1930 as the Rialto Theatre. The timing, and the size of the building, suggest that it was this project noted in the April 10, 1929, issue of Motion Picture News:
The Esquire building bears a very strong resemblance to the Sooner Theatre in Norman, also designed by Harold Gimeno.Here is a close shot of the marquee:
http://tinyurl.com/yh557p9
Notice how the Kiowas marquee touts “Western Electric Sound”, which translate to “sound on film.” My grampy told me how quickly moviegoers tired of Vitaphone disk sound, and alert theatre owners began to ballyhoo sound on film systems.
After looking at interior/exterior photos I can’t help but wonder if Harold Gemino was architect of this cinema. The facade and rustic, exposed beam auditorium are so similar to his Sooner Theatre, Norman, OK.
To view 1936 exterior photo of the Esquire Theatre, when it was still known as Kiowa, enter site below, type in word “theatre”, then enter. Images of the Oklahoman Theatre will also pop up.
View link
Another Hobart theatre, the OKLAHOMAN, is mentioned in the following link about stage scenery supply companies-
http://digital.lib.umn.edu/scenery/index.html
My wife and I visited The Esquire this past summer. It looks like a bomb went off inside it! It’s completely gutted! The only thing left is its marquis. I attended this theatre when I was a child, and its current state is truly disheartening. What a waste!
The Esquire, a one-screen theatre opened at the tail end of the silent film era, was converted to two screens in 1970. It was the first small town theatre in Oklahoma to be converted to two screens.